Patricia talks about her crazy life
One of the elders of the family, Patricia Wheeler, the unsurpassed and undisputed matriarch of the Harper family, tells her story about her wild ride of life, through her years as a wife and mother, the loss of her husband and two of her children, plus how she connected with Ellen Lucas, the birth daughter of her deceased daughter, Alicia. As one of the Wheelers, one of the second most powerful families in Brockton, people see us as the examples, the example of what people see. But they only saw the outside of us. All they could see was the cars, the money, the servants, and not that we had our own issues. My family knew the Harper family for many years. The Harpers and Wheelers had always been examples and we'd always been friends. My mom and dad knew Preston and Nellie and we had always grown up around the Harpers. The thing was, my sister, Violet, whom I call Vi, was smitten with Richard Harper. It had always been, more or less, a merging of our two families, a royal merger if you will. Richard and Vi were the talk of the town. Which was not surprising, given our families prominence. Vi had two sets of twins, which was also not surprising and began the family tradition of having twins. A tradition that continued with my nephew, Jason (himself a twin), having twin daughters, Jennifer and Violet, who was named after my sister. And now, I find out that my great-niece, Anyssa has quads! Three girls and a boy; then Dylan, my beloved great nephew, and his spouse, Adam, would adopt a set of twins. It's as if the Wheeler and Harper families get bigger and bigger. My brother, Jeff and my sister, Joyce, still live. Jeff lives in New York, and works at MTV. He lives a good bachelor life. He never married, Jeff was my parents' late in life, baby. He's in his 30's. Joyce lives here in Boston and is a journalist at an independent newspaper around here in Beacon Hill. She was like my late husband, Bill, in that she slept, ate and breathed journalism. As she always says, "Journalism is in my blood, and I never have tired blood." Everytime I hear that, I laugh. Joyce is always so full of energy, which is why I love her so much. I live in the Back Bay area, in a large condo on Boylston Street. I share it with Vivienne VanCortlandt. Viv is my niece-in-law, Wendy's sister. I am close to her son, Shane, and Wendy's son, Eric. Wendy has been married to Michael for some time now, and Eric is now part of my family as well. I was married to William Lambert, a former executive editor at the Globe. I had met him while he was studying Journalism at Harvard, and I was attending Radcliffe. I had four children from that union, Alicia, Kip, Caitlyn and Roger. Of those four, only Caitlyn and Roger are still alive. Bill and Alicia were murdered by evil Molly Wainwright, a monstrous woman who had terrorized the family for years. Kip died in Florida after a brief illness. Caitlyn and Roger still live in Boston; Caitlyn lives alone in the Fens, and Roger and his boyfriend, Matt, live in Cambridge, or they did until this year. Matt left Roger in the lurch, and now Roger lives with Dylan and the others in Louisburg Square. Most of the family live in the Louisburg Square area of Beacon Hill. It fits the family like a glove. Dylan and Adam live on the Mount Vernon Street side of the Square; they live with Sheila, Allen, Audra, Shawn, Libby (their best friend), Derick (Dylan's personal attorney) and Barry. Sheila and Allen have a lovely little girl named Catherine Patricia. They chose my first name as the child's middle name. Dylan and Adam's twins, Derek and Ashley are new to the familly, and I tell you, they are the most adorable little ones I have ever met. They are somewhat traumatized because of their wicked mother, who was absolutely disrespectful towards the dear ones. I am glad that Dylan and Adam are filling the void with love; and that they are also allowed to see their birth grandparents. I too have a granddaughter, my first. She doesn't live in Boston, but she makes frequent visits here. Her name is Ellen Lucas. She is a beautiful teenager and very vibrant, and also quite mature and looking to her future. Her adopted mother is Anyssa's sister/best friend, Susie Lucas. However, her birth mother was my daughter, Alicia. Alicia had had a relationship with a young man who was a neighbor of ours when we all lived in West Palm Beach. Though his family was powerful, they never taught the young man responsibility. He wasn't going to help Alicia with the child, so she did the only thing she could do in the circumstances. She gave the child up for adoption. She was named Gina, and she grew up with a family in Bay City, Illinois. However, her foster father, Dan Watson, died, and her foster mother, Mary Watson, got really messed up with drugs. Gina, as she was then known, went off the rails and got into a group that was known for graffiti and vandalism. She was more into it due to the fact that she had lost her foster dad, whom she was close to, and the hurt was clear. It was about that time that she met Susie. Susie defended her in court, and she was made her ward. It was Susie's idea that Gina's name become Ellen. She was named after Ellen Grant, an old friend of Susie's family and the sister of India Harper. At first, it was a matter of getting used to her, but Ellen thrived and blossomed under Susie's love. In fact, it was Ellen's quick thinking that saved Susie after she had a severe heart attack. It also solidifed her ambition to be a doctor. However, Susie's adopting Ellen had almost become imperiled when Mary Watson was found dead, and Susie was unconscious. At first it was thought that Susie had killed Mary, but it was later revealed that Susie's pacemaker failed and she was unconscious. A man named Bernard Kendrick had accidentally killed Mary, and a very evil man named Del Henderson, a drug dealer who was supplying Mary with drugs, had broken a sculpture and had intended to have Susie framed for the crime. Del, happily, is no more. He slipped on a fire escape during a freezing rain event and died. The happiest day of all in Ellen's life was when Susie, witnessed by Anyssa and their other friend, Donna Morgan, herself an attorney, was finally able to adopt Ellen, and she became Ellen Lucas. Susie knows about the connections between me and Ellen. In fact, Susie makes it clear that I am to see Ellen whenever I want. So, she comes often and we spend a lot of time together. In fact, Susie and Ellen came for Dylan and Adam's wedding a couple of years ago; and also much more recently, for Aaron and Marta's wedding. While they were here, Ellen, who is very computer literate, taught us all how to use Facebook. Velda uses Facebook most of all, in her capacity as the family's social secretary. She uses it to inbox everyone with their appointments and their other family doings. The other day, Anyssa, Bryan, Dylan, Adam, Sheila and Allen took the children on various outings. Dylan, Adam, Allen and Bryan took Sammy and Derek to a Celtics game. Derek isn't really a sports fan, although he does play soccer in the same league as Jolie. Derek however was entranced with the basketball game. He enjoyed it. One day, he told me that he had never been to a basketball game like that. His father had wanted to before he passed away, but his selfish mother was not wanting to do anything, except get stoned and beat on the children. Sheila, Anyssa, and Hannah took the girls to a kid's party over in Needham (another suburb of Boston) and they had a blast. The girls looked adorable in their party dresses and they looked so beautiful. It's a clear example of how lovely the children are and how much the Harper family is growing. I can't say my life have been easy. Ever since Bill, Alicia and Kip died, it has been a struggle. Sometimes, I wondered if I even functioned at all, but I think it has made me stronger. I am clearly the matriarch of the Harper family, and I am glad I am. I think Vi would have approved of that. I know I still have Joyce and Jeff, but I do miss Vi a lot. Vi and I were very close. When we were kids, Vi and I were often talking and dreaming of our lives. She and I were brought up well. We both knew marriage was in the cards for us. Vi was enthralled with Richard Harper, and I was going out with Bill. The thing was, the four of us double-dated. Vi had a charming sense of right and wrong. She helped raise Dylan when Michael and Shelby were split up. I never clearly understood why Shelby was the way she was with Dyl. Thank heavens Vi was there to help out. I always felt that Dyl was closer to Vi and Richard as far as his grandparents went. But then again, he was close to his Aunt Michelle and also his cousin, Sheila. That closeness also extended to my side of the family too. Jeff clearly adores him, and Joyce dotes on him and his family too. Joyce also babysits Derek and Ashley when she has time. He always was a joy when he came to see Bill and I. Bill and Dylan would have long discussions over the news of the day, and Bill had always been amazed at Dylan's grasp of current events. It was also clear that he and Roger had a bond too. He got along well with the other children (Kip loved him dearly, and Caitlyn and Alicia always protected him too), but it was Roger whom he most bonded with. Roger was his pal, his buddy, a brother he had never had. He has, (and still does) call him, "Dyl Pickle". Only a few people can do that, and Roger is one of them. That closeness is still evident today. He and Adam and Roger and Matt have double dated before as well; similar to how Vi and I and our boyfriends double dated. As they say, the more things change the more they stay the same. It is without a doubt that I am proud to be the matriarch of the Harper family, ALL of them. They are all my family and I love them all without question. Category:Episodes Category:Episodes from a character's view